


Christmas Breakout

by Burgie



Series: 12 Days of Ficsmas 2017 [10]
Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 13:27:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13124697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: The gang breaks Justin out of prison for a very important performance. Jack belongs to SSO-Jack-Wolfwatcher, Ronja belongs to NumiTuziNeru, Alessa belongs to sso-duskhill on tumblr, Izabella belongs to hollow_moon, Liv belongs to liv-olive on tumblr, Astrid belongs to rsenak on tumblr, Jacky belongs to Zebrablanket, Elsa belongs to twracehorse on tumblr, Eden belongs to sso-eden-dawnvalley on tumblr, Ali belongs to BookwormSupreme, and Zelda belongs to ZDusk.





	Christmas Breakout

Justin shivered in his cell. Of course the druids would be the kind of cruel people who would have a prison system in the caves high up in the mountains. It made imprisonment especially hellish in the winter, though he imagined that it would be nice at any other time of year. Well, for a prison. At least they’d given him a scarf and jacket, both of which were black. Like his heart. Immediately, Justin took that thought back. He’d been in here for so long that he’d started thinking like bloody Darko.

There was a light dusting of snow on the floor of Justin’s cell, and he was pretty sure that icicles grew from the ceiling. And possibly his nose. He’d probably catch pneumonia from this, and he’d definitely be sending the hospital bill to Fripp if that happened.

Still shivering quite violently, Justin lay on his side on his hard bed, pulling the ratty blanket over himself and closing his eyes. Maybe he’d warm up a little if he slept, or at least the night would pass faster. 

It wasn’t the first rays of sunlight that woke Justin. Instead, it was the voices of a few girls and a man talking.

“This is really fucking stupid, I hope you know,” the man said. It took Justin a second to place the voice. Jack? What was he doing here? He’d never come to visit him, not even when Zelda had visited him every day. Justin sat up, rubbing his eyes with frozen hands. He was pretty sure that some snowflakes frosted down from his eyes, but it was probably just dandruff. The druids hadn’t been letting him bathe. He stood in the middle of his cell, wondering just what on earth was going on.

“It’s for love!” a rather familiar girl’s voice said. Teenage girl, kind of husky. Alex? Justin frowned. Just what the hell was going on here? “Besides, if we can’t rescue my girlfriend, we can rescue Zelda’s boyfriend.”

“Exactly,” said Lisa. “And I don’t wanna make Zelda feel bad if I show up but her boyfriend doesn’t.”

“Exactly, it’s fair that way,” said a voice that always made Justin fear for his life. Oh. Oh no. Oh, hell no. “Stand back, ladies and Jack, this is gonna get a little… explosive.”

There was the sound of several people scattering, followed by an explosion that blew a hole in the wall. Justin jumped back and covered his face, but he was still peppered with little bits of stone. “Ow!”

“Sorry!” Ronja called, poking her head through the hole. She had a few black smudges on her face that were probably supposed to look like warpaint. “But there’s your exit! Quickly now, before the druids come to investigate the explosion.”

“You didn’t have to blow a hole in the wall!” someone screeched, and Ronja laughed. “And I thought Dunya was bad, Ronja, jeez!”

“Sorry,” said Ronja, grinning. “But c’mon, Lisa can heal you, cantcha, Lise?”

“Y’know, maybe we should’ve warned him first,” said Izabella, seeing the sorry state Justin was in as he climbed through the wall. Blood painted half his face from a cut in his scalp. Izabella winced at the sight, and Liv, who stood beside her best friend, looked quite pale. Alessa was the one who’d screeched at Ronja, and she was still glaring at her with her arms folded in front of her chest.

“You’re a madwoman,” said Alessa. “A complete and utter madwoman.”

“Ey, I got ‘im out, didn’t I?” said Ronja. “You’re welcome, by the way.”

“But probably only for the night,” said Ali. “But it’ll be long enough for this, don’t worry.”

“Long enough for what?” asked Justin, standing still while Lisa gently plucked the stone from his flesh and healed the wounds left behind.

“Oh, it’s going to be magical, don’t you worry,” said Eden. “They’ve been practising their routine for weeks.”

“Come here, let me clean you up,” said Linda, holding out a damp cloth. Justin shivered at the cold water, but it got the job done. That done, the group headed out of the prison, Justin barely believing that they’d make it. Surely the guards would detect them and send them all back to prison?

To Justin’s great surprise (and amusement), the guard druids were passed out at their tables, cups of alcohol half-empty by their outstretched hands. Sitting opposite one of the druids, who was snoring quite loudly, was a red-haired girl, swaying in her seat and looking bleary-eyed around the room. 

“Finally,” she slurred, getting unsteadily to her feet and wobbling there. “Took you guys long enough.”

“Good job, Astrid, you kept them occupied,” said Alex, grinning.

“I drank them under the table,” said Astrid, raising her empty cup. She hiccupped and dropped the cup, which clattered on the floor. “Whoops. Lemme jus-“

“Oh no you don’t, drunky, you leave that cup where it is,” said Liv, grabbing Astrid by the arm and pulling her over to the cave’s exit. The chilly air outside sobered her up a bit.

“Thanks,” said Astrid.

“Let’s go, let’s go,” Izabella urged, shooing them from the back, and the group herded out into the coldness. It was freezing and snowing, but Justin had never felt more free in his life. Even as a girl on a spotted mustang turned around to look at them.

“You got him?” asked Jacky. Justin stepped forward, nodding. “Great! Mission successful, let’s go, I think they’re starting soon.”

“Yeah, we’ve got, like, half an hour,” said Elsa, checking her phone from where she sat on her own bay mustang.

“Shit, we’d better get going, then,” said Izabella, climbing onto a beautiful silvery mustang.

“I think I’ll go with Eden,” said Justin, jumping up behind his old friend on her buckskin morgan. Eden smiled at him, and the group of them headed off in a stampede towards the nearest sleigh.

Somehow, though the Magic Christmas Market was snowier and had frozen lakes, it wasn’t anywhere near as cold here. Maybe it was warmed by the Christmas spirit that resided in them all. It was also such a happy place that Justin felt out of place in his all-black outfit. Not to mention the fact that it had blood on it.

“Too bad I couldn’t shower and get changed first,” said Justin. “I must stink.”

“Eh, who cares, she won’t care if you stink,” said Liv. “But alright, we can get you an ugly Christmas sweater or something.”

“Thanks,” said Justin, grinning.

A crowd had gathered by the large frozen lake by the time Justin had changed into his reindeer-patterned, red and white sweater. But, with Izabella and Liv leading the way (and barging through the crowd, to be honest), Justin managed to find a spot near the front where he could get a good glimpse of the ice. He was confused, at first.

And then music began playing, and a young woman skated out onto the ice. Justin recognised her instantly, just by her black hair, and his heart skipped a beat as his breath caught in his throat. Zelda. So that was why she hadn’t come to the rescue mission, not that he’d had much time to ponder it in the mad rush out of there. She looked absolutely beautiful, in a sparkly red and white leotard complete with a red and white Santa hat and stripy red and green stockings. He wondered if he should hide, maybe she’d mess up if she saw him.

But, when Zelda caught sight of him, she only wobbled slightly and grinned, her entire face lighting up. And then, she turned her attention to her ice skating partner.

“Man, she’s so graceful,” Lisa sighed from her spot beside Justin as Louisa skated out to join Zelda on the ice. Louisa wore the other Christmas colour, though her leotard was green and yellow, and she had a green Santa hat. Her stockings looked like a typical candy cane, striped red and white. Justin smiled, but he could only see Zelda. At the way her movements were so graceful, the balance she used, the way Louisa so easily lifted Zelda over her head to pose with her arms up and her legs stretched out behind her. She looked like she was flying. And then, even when she was set down, Zelda still managed to maintain her balance as she skated around with her partner, performing pirouettes and moves that Justin had never seen before, except for that one time when he’d watched the Olympics on TV. Seeing it in person, hearing the scrape of metal on ice, feeling the cold emanating from the frozen lake, was something else altogether.

And, when the performance came to an end and Louisa and Zelda took their bows, Justin and Lisa clapped and cheered louder than anyone, amazed that their partners had managed to pull this off. But Justin only cheered for a moment before Zelda skated over to him and flung her arms around him, almost knocking him off his feet.

“You made it,” she whispered, her voice hoarse and tears already on her cheeks. “I didn’t know…”

“Your friends broke me out,” said Justin with a grin, returning her embrace and holding her tightly. He kissed her cheeks, her nose, her forehead, her lips, her face. And all Zelda could do was laugh and return his kisses, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs.

“I missed you,” Zelda whispered. Then, she looked around at her friends, all of whom were grinning. “Thanks for going and rescuing him.”

“It was a group effort,” said Izabella. “Well, except Shadow, she’s busy with something. I didn’t pry.” She shrugged, though Alessa rolled her eyes and gave a smile that suggested that she knew exactly what Shadow was busy with.

“You shouldn’t be in prison at Christmas,” said Jack. “It’s Christmas, for god’s sake, give the poor boy a break.”

“Thanks,” said Justin, smiling. And then he turned back to his girlfriend, to kiss and nuzzle and run his fingers through her hair. He didn’t know how long he had with her, but he was damn sure going to cherish every precious moment.


End file.
